Brush knee is only hindered by the fitness and skill of the practitioner. The 'older' brush knee of my teacher (Hou Chi Kwang)I incorporated into Yang was a raised left knee/brush as if raising and pushing (may be pulling also) extended foot of attacker and right hand to upper body of attacker. It may also be a twisting move depending on how one was taught. Can be alternated with formarm throw with brushing knee.

MLS_72, What a fantastic video of Master Mah! I haven't had a chace yet to look at the rest of these videos, but I'm certainly going to.Thanks for sharing this link. A varitable treasure trove of Tai Chi Chuan form videos!

My only comment on Brush Knee and Twist Step arm heights is that I don't think it truly matters. Previous forms I have studied have run the gambut from chest height to truly brushing the knee. All are perfectly valid expressions of the same energy, simply moved to differing heights according to the opinion of the forms creator.Using the same pricipals of movement you can use that arm to do an entire array of things, anything from grasping and offsetting your opponents arm to meeting incoming energy from a kick and offsetting it. What you do with that arm in "combat" will depend almost entirely on the circumstance of the moment, but practicing it depends on what the intent was of the person who created the form you are using.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by simonmotorbike:<B>Perhaps I should looks at some diagrams to learn the martial aspects?</B></font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Sure. And if you want to become a high hand, make sure to hold the diagrams at eye level!

In the book called "Yang Chen fu's Photographs of Tai chi chuan" by Shi Yueming, there in Part III of the book of photographs showing Tackling Eneny on page 45, Yang chen fu is doing his brush knee with left arm at chest level. he is controlling his opponents right arm while pushing on opponenets chest.

In "Practice use of Tai chi chuan" by Yang Sau Chung (yang chen fu's son) on page 6 he as well has a high waist level brush knee.